Churches

The Church of the Unity in Springfield, sometime in the 1870’s or 1880’s. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

The location of the church in 2012:

The Church of the Unity was a building of architectural significance – it was the first commission of noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, and was built between 1866 and 1869. However, it was demoished in 1961 and replaced with a parking lot for the main branch of the Springfield Public Library.

Park Street Church with Old Granary Burying Ground, sometime in the 1860s. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

The scene in 2011:

As mentioned in this post, which shows the view of the church from the opposite side, Park Street Church was once the tallest building in the United States, from its construction in 1810 until 1846. It remained the tallest building in Boston until around the time that the first photo was taken. The tallest building in Boston is also visible in the 2011 photo – the John Hancock tower, which was built over 100 years after the first photo was taken.

The church itself hasn’t changed much, and neither has the Old Granary Burying Ground next to it. The cemetery was opened in 1660, and many notable figures from the Revolutionary War period are buried there, including John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Robert Treat Paine, and the victims of the Boston Massacre.

The view looking north on Washington Street toward Old South Meeting House, sometime shortly before the Great Boston Fire of 1872. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

The same view, in the immediate aftermath of the fire. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

Around 1875. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

Sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

The same scene in 2011:

The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was the most disastrous fire in Boston history. It came just a year after the Great Chicago Fire, although Boston’s fire couldn’t hold a candle to Chicago’s (pun intended) when it came to the death toll and property losses. Boston’s fire killed about 30, destroyed 776 buildings, and caused about $73.5 million in damages (about $1.4 billion in 2013 dollars). Chicago, by comparison, killed 200-330, destroyed 17,500 buildings, and caused about $222 million in damage (around $4.2 billion today).

Still, Boston’s fire was extensive in its damage – it destroyed much of downtown Boston, including sections of Washington Street as seen in the first two photos. However, the historic Old South Meeting House, built in 1729, survived thanks to volunteers using wet blankets to fend off the flames.

By the time the 1875 photo was taken, Boston was rebuilding, but so was Old South Church. Because the fire destroyed so many homes, people began relocating to the newly filled in Back Bay, and the church followed them, constructing the oxymoronically-named New Old South Church at Copley Square. No longer needed, the historic building was sold and was to be demolished. However, given the building’s role in the events leading up the the Revolutionary War, Bostonians rallied to preserve it, making it one of the first such buildings to be preserved for its historical significance.

In the last two photos, most of the buildings in the foreground remain the same, although the skyline in the background has changed. The building immediately to the right of the church is actually the same in the last three photos, and it looks similar to the burned-out building that occupied the spot before the fire. I don’t know whether it is the same facade, or if it was just rebuilt with a similar style, but at the very least the existing building dates to the immediate aftermath of the fire. As for the church, today it functions as a museum, although the congregation holds its annual Thanksgiving service at the building.

Central Congregational Church at the corner of Berkeley and Newbury in Boston, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same building, now the Church of the Covenant, in 2015:

The church was built in 1867, one of the first in Boston’s then recently filled in Back Bay. By the time the 1904 photo was taken, the Back Bay looked very much like it does today, albeit with fewer skyscrapers. Still, though, many of the low-rise residential buildings from 1904 are still there, including a few visible in both of these photos. At the time of its construction, the church was the tallest building in Boston, and retained its title until the construction of the Custom House Tower in 1915.

The view of St. Michael’s Cathedral, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

From the same spot in 2013:

The tree is somewhat blocking it, but St. Michael’s Cathedral is still there today, looking as good as it did when it was built in the 1860’s. It was the first Roman Catholic church in Springfield, and it is currently the cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts, which covers all four counties in Western Massachusetts. The 1908 photo shows the church and the rectory, both of which still exist, but it also shows St. Luke’s Sanitarium, to the left of the church, which no longer exists. Note, however, the break in the curb along the sidewalk that once led to the building.

On an arborist note, the short but wide tree on the far right of the 2013 photo appears to be the same one in the 1908 photo. In addition, this may be pure conjecture, but the tree that now all but obscures the church from this angle appears to be visible in the 1908 photo. There is a young sapling that is barely noticeable in the photo, and it appears to be in the same location as the present-day tree. The current tree looks like it could be around 100 years old – could it be the same tree?

The corner of State Street and Maple Street in Springfield, between 1900 and 1909. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same street corner in 2013:

These photos were taken from the opposite side of State Street from the photos in this post, and show some of the changes that the Quadrangle area has undergone in the past 100+ years. Some things remain – Christ Church Cathedral and the statue of Samuel Chapin are the two obvious ones. Even minor details such as the short, bowling pin-looking granite posts on either side of the sidewalks are still there. But, the big difference, aside from the traffic lights and complete lack of cobblestone in the 2013 photo, is the main Springfield Library building.

The library building in the early 20th century photo was built in the 1860’s as the first public library in Springfield. Very shortly after this photo was taken, however, construction began on the new library (this happened in 1909, thus establishing the upper limit of the date range for the photo). But, rather than demolishing the old structure, and to allow the library to function while the new building was being constructed, the old one was moved directly back, into the present-day Quadrangle. The new library was dedicated in 1912, and the books were moved to the old one. Whether the old building was demolished right after that, or whether it was used for something else in the intervening years, I don’t know at this time.

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